James Jewell shot himself in the head while demonstrating gun safety in February. The man’s girlfriend was performing CPR on the victim when deputies from the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office arrived at the residence on Pinedale, off Sashabaw Road, south of Maybee Road. The girlfriend, who also lived there, told deputies the victim had been drinking during the day and that he had showed her how to use his three handguns, demonstrating how safe they were when they were empty. While talking, he placed the gun to his head and pulled the trigger, officials said. The handgun fired and he was killed.

Chief Medical Examiner L.J. Dragovic has not received any communication from the family, he said.

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The Detroit Free Press reported the family plans to ask for a review of the case to have the death classified as an accident rather than a suicide. The family did not return calls for comment Monday.

The examiner’s office would be willing to review the case if new evidence is presented, Dragovic said.

“It was based on the evidence that there was on the body during the examination,” he said. “We don’t do reclassifications by request. We have statutory obligations to tell the truth. We are obliged by state law to provide a cause of death and manner of death.”

Cheryl Loewe, deputy medical examiner, examined the body and compared the situation to Russian roulette, in which a person fires bullets into the head with a revolver. Those deaths are considered suicide, according to textbook forensic pathology, she said.

“Even though it’s not Russian roulette, it was kind of a variant solo form of Russian roulette,” she said. “It’s our contention these deaths are ruled suicide, because there is a significant element of deliberate purposeful behavior to self-destruct.”

Jewell aimed the gun directly at his right temple with close contact when he fired, she said. In this case, he used several firearms but still held his “life in a state of disregard.” The girlfriend told the Free Press that he just did it with one gun, though the deputies reported it was tried with three.

“You’re still rolling the dice if you will,” she said.

Despite the intent to pull the trigger, the girlfriend and family say in the report that Jewell, a skilled carpenter, did not mean to kill himself and had been happy and looking forward to the spring and his future.

While Loewe does not expect the Oakland County Medical Examiner’s Office to overturn the ruling, the family could ask another forensic pathologist to review the report and give a second opinion, she said.

Another trend she has been seeing lately is people renting guns at a firing range where they shoot themselves in the head, which would also be considered suicide, she said.

Three children, ages 7, 10 and 12, were present at the time of the shooting, but they did not witness it, police said. The children are not the biological children of the victim.